Psychoanalyse und ihre Anwendungen

About this book

The essay "Antisemitismus und Massen-Psychopathologie" (pp. 254-288) was first published in English in "Anti-Semitism: A Social Disease" (New York: International Universities Press, 1946). The collection was published in German as "Antisemitismus" (Frankfurt a.M.: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1993). Simmel's paper first appeared in German in "Psyche" 32 (1978). Explains antisemitism as a mass psychosis analogous to paranoia. Notes that the individual antisemite is not psychotic, but by merging in the mass, he is able to indulge the infantile drive to devour the object. Moreover, he solves his ambivalence toward his parents by splitting it into love for the good leader and hatred for the evil Jew. Like paranoid psychotics, antisemites project onto the Jews crimes of which they themselves are guilty. The Pesach lamb which the Jews devour is seen as a symbol of Christ, ritual murder, and Host desecration - as shedding the blood of Christ, which Christians themselves devour in the Eucharist. Nazi claims that Jews defile Aryan blood is a variant of the blood accusation. Nazi propaganda has spread antisemitism in Europe and the U.S. Long-term prevention lies in education and social reform. In the short term, incitement to antisemitism must be made a punishable crime.